I cannot believe a whole week of 2015 has passed by already, but as you all should know, the 8th day of January marks a very special day. No it’s not totally-acceptable-to-give-up-on-diet day (that was the 2nd, right?) And no, it’s not F&P’s first book review day – I know you’re all very excited for this (and so you should be – we have Part 2 of Franny’s cookery books feature coming up and reviews of HOLD THE DARK and A PLACE CALLED WINTER). No no, it’s incredibly special as we celebrate…

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And now for something completely different. For this review, I am stepping out of character, and straight out of my comfort zone – this is because Thursday evening whipped me up and plonked me firmly down in the universe of BEER. I wouldn’t call myself an expert in wine, but I am certainly an affiliate of the school. Luckily, this was an evening designed to prove to people like me that beer could be as ‘diverse and exciting’ as wine can. I had no complaints about trying to be persuaded of this on a Thursday evening, especially in the beautiful location of The Shed in Notting Hill. Continue reading An Evening with the BeerBods→

And so, the long awaited day dawned of the announcement of the Man Booker longlist. I say long awaited – long awaited mainly by those who work in literary publishing and by those who seem to eagerly wait 365 days to complain about it. It dawned two hours earlier for me in fact, as I was in a holiday villa on the coast of Turkey at the time. The world of publishing for once seemed a distant dream, and reading the longlist by an azure pool it was a challenge to pull myself back to those daily realms of literary fiction. Books never let you get away that easily of course. I had stuffed my suitcase with the novels I had missed out on over the past few months (being an editorial assistant leaves a scarily slim amount of time in which to read outside of your own list I have found!). I had also given one very special book to the long suffering boyfriend to carry in his hand luggage, because as I very clearly explained to him as he staggered through security, as there was NO WAY I was letting a proof of David Nicholls’ Us go in the HOLD.

So imagine my delight that unwittingly, I had brought my first longlist candidate on holiday with me – the much anticipated follow up to the literary sensation that was One Day.

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It has come to my attention that this blog has a distinct lack of psychological thrillers within its review pages. Her is a fantastic example of the genre, building the layers of suspense over a ground work of female jealousy and domestic minutiae in an engaging and tense read, leaving us guessing until the very end.

Two women living in one of London’s wealthier suburbs. One of them recognises the other immediately, while the second has no recollection of her new friend. The book flits between Nina and Emma’s POV on each chapter, giving us an entirely different depiction of the same events. Nina appears like a guardian angel to Emma, being a collected woman with a wealthier income and a respectable job as a painter. Emma’s life is a mess of enforced domesticity as she raises her two young children without hopes of ever going back to the television career she once loved. Nina, however, has her own reasons for appearing suddenly in Emma’s world, for motives that are slowly revealed to us as her immersion in Emma’s lonely existence begins to be total.

We are absolutely delighted to be launching theLast Bus to Coffeeville Virtual Summer Road Trip on Franny & Perks today! This is a blog tour that goes beyond just reviews and extracts. No Exit Press has brought together a host of amazing bloggers who, together with author J. Paul Henderson, are embarking across the world on a virtual road trip this summer. Throughout July and August, the Coffeeville tour bus will be stopping at a whole range of blogs – there will be reviews, interviews, road trip playlists, giveaways and even coffee-inspired recipes! You can follow it all @noexitpress and using the #CoffeevilleRoadTrip hashtag on Twitter. Full line-up is at the end of this post.

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One of this summer’s most talked about publications, The Lemon Grove, has been called many things. Most of them revolve around the theme of ‘sexy’ ‘sultry’ ‘naughty’. Some of them are more to the tune of ‘WHERE IS THE MORALITY?!’

Today we’re offering thefirstFranny vs Perks review post. Although we’ve read many of the same books, The Lowland is the first to be subjected to our critical eyes. We hope that our double whammy of a post will encourage you to read a book that, although has not broken free of the numerous shortlists its been on, is undoubtedly a fantastic read.